Wilhelm Peterson-Berger

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Wilhelm Peterson-Berger
Wilhelm Peterson-Berger

Wilhelm Peterson-Berger - full name Olof Wilhelm Peterson-Berger - (27 February 1867, Ullånger, Ångermanland, Sweden — 3 December 1942, Östersund, Sweden) was a Swedish composer and music critic.

Contents

[edit] The composer

Peterson-Berger is best known for three albums of national romantic piano pieces entitled Frösöblomster I, II and III (Frösö Flowers), which includes the often performed Vid Frösö kyrka (At Frösö Church) and Sommarsång (Summer Song). The sets were composed during a time of 18 years (1896 - 1914) and brought together afterwards as a collection and represents the romantic, nationalistic and typical Swedish mindset. The most famous of the pieces, Sommarsång (Summer Song) reminds of the warm, calm, harmonic bright pre-summer evenings where the sun almost never goes down (in particularly not in the north where Wilhelm lived) and was the great breakthrough for Vilhelm. This piece is still known to about every Swede, even to people generally uninterested to music and the majority of young piano students in the Nordics have been taught this piece.

His main musical influences were Grieg and Wagner. His other works include the five symphonies - among them are no.2 Sunnanfärd and no.3 Same-Ätnam generally considered the best - as well as the operas Ran, Arnljot, Domedagsprofeterna ("The Doomsday Prophets") and Adils och Elisiv ("Adils and Elisiv").
His command of the larger forms, in both architecture and instrumentation, is disputed.
The opera Arnljot has nevertheless become something of a symbol for the province of Jämtland and is regularly performed there, as a "musical drama", at Arnljotlägden on Frösön, close to Peterson-Berger's former home, Sommarhagen. He also wrote about eighty songs, many of which are based upon Erik Axel Karlfeldt poems (for example Aspåkerspolska).

[edit] Work list (partial)

[edit] Orchestral

  • Symphony No. 1 in B flat major, Baneret ("The Banner"), 1889-1903, revised 1932-33. Movements: "När vi först drogo ut", "Mellan fedjerna", "Vid hjältebåren", "Mot nya vårar".
  • Symphony No. 2 in E flat major, Sunnanfärd ("The Journey of Southerly Winds"), 1910. Movements: "Stiltje - Seglats", "Rosenstaden: Dionysoståget - I Eros tempel - Symposion", "Hemlängtan - För sunnanvind".
  • Symphony No. 3 in F minor, Same Ätnam ("Symfonia Lapponica"), 1913-15. Movements: "Forntidsbilder", "Vinterkväll", "Sommarnatt", "Framtidsdrömmar".
  • Symphony No. 4 in A major, Holmia, 1929
  • Symphony No. 5 in B major, Solitudo, 1932-33
  • Orientalisk Dans ("Oriental Dance"), 1889-1890
  • Violin concerto in F sharp minor, 1915-1928
  • Romance in D minor for violin and orchestra, 1915
  • Törnrosasagan ("The Story of the Sleeping Beauty"), 1934

[edit] Opera

  • Ran, 1895-1900
  • Arnljot, 1907-09
  • Domedagsprofeterna ("The Doomsday Prophets"), 1912-1917
  • Adils and Elisiv, 1921-24

[edit] Vocal

[edit] Piano music

  • Frösöblomster ("Fröso Flowers"), 1896, 8 pieces including Sommarsång, Lawn tennis, Till rosorna, Gratulation and Vid Frösö kyrka
  • Frösöblomster II, 1900, 6 pieces
  • Frösöblomster III: I sommarhagen, 1914, including Intåg i Sommarhagen
  • Six songs for piano, 1897
  • Färdminnen, 1908
  • Earina, 1917, 7 pieces
  • Italiana, 1922
  • Anakreontika, two books, 1924 and 1936


[edit] The critic

As well as being a composer, Peterson-Berger was also a respected though very controversial music critic for the Stockholm newspaper Dagens Nyheter ("News of the Day"). He was conservative, some would say narrow-minded, and fought the increasing influence of modernism in music, especially from Arnold Schoenberg and his followers. For either composers or performers who did not conform to his taste (or who were young and insecure female musicians, to take one typical example), he was not above grave personal insults.
One acquaintance later recalled his surprise when, on a journey by train from Stockholm to Östersund and Frösön, the big man and notorious critic suddenly burst into tears and felt soft like a child as the bucolic landscape of his beloved Jämtland began to unfold outside the window.

[edit] References

Nationalencyklopedin, band 15 (1994) (Swedish National Encyclopedia, in Swedish)

[edit] External links

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